Week Four: I am not a special snowflake.

I am NOT a special snowflake.

So often, after explaining my views about unschooling, I am told "not everyone could do that. You, you're different. You have a thirst to learn. You clearly are a human with opinions, and you have gone out and actually wanted to learn things, and here you are. Not everyone is like that. You're special."

Given, this may not be the exact words that are said, but the idea behind them is there. Always lurking behind the fact that I can measure up to whoever is holding up the yardstick is the subtle (or not so subtle) inference that I just happened to get lucky, and that I'm not the norm.

Before I go any further, I want to make something abundantly clear. I am not saying that my lifestyle is for everyone, since I know a few friends who have been unschooled for their entire lives, and then chose to go to school because they wanted to. I'm not saying that some people don't need structure. I'm not saying that everyone would do well in the intensely radical life that I lead.

Here is what I am saying.

I am not an abnormality.

I am not some sort of wonder child who has managed to reach beyond my hopelessly unstructured and uncontrolled life to grasp at knowledge against all odds.

I am not a special snowflake.

When you tell me that I'm an anomaly, that I'm doing well, but that's not the norm, you are doing a number of things, and none of them are kind.

First, you are seriously underselling the vast majority of people, and their abilities to function in the world. I am a firm believer in the theory that, if given the chance and left to their own devices, most (if not all people) will end up knowledgeable in whatever field that interests them. A structured, oppressive school system feeds information into people's heads so that they can take tests well. This is what school is for. School is not for following passions, for finding out who you are, or who you want to be. It is for taking tests and passing tests.


Secondly, you are saying that I have, against all odds, managed to be a person with thoughts, intellect, and a grasp on what everyone so maddeningly calls "the real world*". When you think you're complimenting me, what you're really doing is congratulating me on overcoming my life.

My life is not something to be overcome. It's not something that I struggled against. It's not a miracle that I'm doing as well as I am.

So in closing, even if you think it's a compliment, please don't tell me that I'm a special case, and that I'm just better/more motivated than everyone else.

If you want to compliment me, just please do not do it in a way that makes it seem like I have overcome my chosen education.

Thank you,

~Whimsy

P.S. Thinking about doing a series of posts on unschooling.

P.P.S. The heavy topics will eventually go away, and we'll go back to Whimsy's Usual Madness.

*There's so much to say about this, too.

Week Three: Thoughts On The School System.

A friend of mine asked for suggestions on how his English teacher could improve her teaching. Well, it kind of evolved into this rambling reply regarding my first few thoughts on the school system.

Here is the massive message I sent, totally unchanged from it's first draft.

My thoughts on the school system are MANY AND VARIED, but my viewpoint boils down to this:

Firstly, compulsory education is kind of bullshit. No matter how old you are, you should have the right to choose if you do or do not want to do something.

Secondly, all educations should be set up like college is: if you want to go, you go. If you don't, you don't.

Thirdly, regarding college: There should be no "required classes". If I'm going to college to get a piece of paper that says "Yes, good on you, you know lots about maths", then why should I be required to take an English class (and vice versa).

Fourthly, testing is not, never has been, and never will be an accurate way to measure if learning has taken place, or if you have knowledge of a certain subject.

Fifth, (and this is more of a collective social consciousness type-thing), there needs to be NO STIGMA AROUND WHAT CLASSES/SCHOOLING/COLLEGE/LACK-THEREOF YOU CHOOSE. On the flipside, there needs to be a general consensus that if I'm home/un/private/public schooled, that does not mean that I am anything other than a human being. Do not assume that I am a genius, or that I have no social skills, or that I am stupid, or that I have no thoughts of my own, or any of those things.

Sixth, respect. Now, I'm not talking about the mouth-shut-listen-to-me-while-I-am-talking kind of respect for teachers, but more along the lines of I-am-a-person-you-are-a-person-respect.

Seventh, safe space. Create one, enforce it. If someone's breaking the safe space, get them either A: spoken to about it or B: removed from the space.

Really, there's only two of these that your teacher-person can do anything about, and that's the last two. I'm going to go into a bit more detail on each of them now.

Respect: the thing is, I think a lot of teachers think that the students should respect them purely on the grounds that they are The Teachers. In reality, all this hierarchy crap is just that, crap. If you are expecting respect without wanting to give it back, that's just not going to work. I seriously doubt that in a teacher's personal life, they expect respect without giving respect in return. Bottom line, your students are people, same as you, no matter what age they are. Treat them like you want to be treated. Don't be an ass based on age or supposed classroom hierarchy.

Safe Space: this kinda falls under the umbrella of respect, but since this is super-crazy important, I'll say it again. Please, if you ask your teacher to do any one thing, ask her to make sure that her classroom is a safe space for everyone, including and especially lgbtq+ students. If she can educate herself about making sure she's not making unintentionally hurtful comments, and if she can make it damn clear that anyone who does is going to be spoken to about it, and that she won't tolerate that kind of crap, all the better for EVERYONE.


~Whimsy

Week Two: Whimsy's list of wonderful things!

Lat year, I posted a getting-to-know-you type blog. This year, I'm doing a bit more simple version of the same thing.

January 2012: Whimsy's list of wonderful things*.

Snow at night
Re-reading books
Dance parties in the kitchen
Green things
Hugs
Christmas crackers
Lists
Rainbows
Waltzing
Puns
The smell of books
Clever television
Making music
Writing
Baking cookies
The internet
Trees
Art
Spices
Woodsmoke
Stars
Sock puppets
Surrealist humor
Webcomics
Magic
Speculative fiction
Tailcoats
Quotes
Books
Laughter
Friendship


This is by no means an exhaustive list. However, I'm already behind with my posting for this project. HOWEVER, I will prevail!

I've started teaching the younger kids again, and as usual, it's wonderful, and the kids are charmingly adorable. I love them all, I really do.

Talk to you soon!
~Whimsy


* I am of the opinion that what a person likes gives a great slice of who they are as a person.

Week One: Bringing back The BOW Project and my personal resolutions.

As some of you may recall, last year, I took on a crazy project. The attempt was to write and publish 52 posts in a year, one each week.

As you may have noticed, I failed this project. However, I reached 45 posts in 2011, not counting the daily blogs I put out during the month of August. I count that as a success. I mean, I wrote far more than I would have otherwise, and that was the whole point.

Because I haven't learned my lesson from last year, I'm trying again. Yes, The BOW Project is going on into 2012, and I couldn't be happier.

I don't like to do new year's resolutions, and the reason is this: I don't want to feel like I failed at something. I think that too many people set themselves up to fail when they pick the resolutions that they choose. That being said, I'm making some resolutions that I think I can keep up with.

In no particular order:

* Don't run away from new experiences based solely on my anxieties and irrational fears.
* Do things that make me happy.
* Create more things.
* Don't second-guess myself so intensely.
* Do something that I've never done before.
* Write what I'd like to read.

I think those are good goals.